Mr Dobbin said: "I'm particularly worried about fireworks that are being smuggled into the country and being sold under the counter. These could be very dangerous if they got into the wrong hands.

"I don't see why fireworks should be on sale to the general public. Some use them to celebrate birthday parties, but is it right that the whole neighbourhood should be disturbed? You can have a good party without fireworks, which can frighten elderly people and animals."

Newbold Councillor Andy Butler - Greater Manchester Fire and Civil defence Authority deputy chairman - and Heywood councillor Beatrice Owen, claim that this year they have had more firework-related complaints than ever.

The Observer has reported a series of incidents including a toilet being blown up in town centre pub The Regal Moon, a postbox being blasted in Littleborough, and a grid being blown into the air in Sudden.

Councillor Butler has set up a petition that already has 150 signatures supporting a crackdown on the sale of fireworks.

He wants the sale of fireworks restricted to organisations such as the council, which put on organised displays with trained staff working on them.

Mr Dobbin's concerns were echoed at Wednesday's Rochdale Council meeting. Environment Committee chairman Councillor Allen Brett told the meeting that the council didn't have any powers to stop traders selling fireworks before 5 November. He said there was a code of practice that states shops should only sell them six weeks before bonfire night, but this is purely voluntary.

Councillor Brett said he would write to the town's three MPs to ask them to put pressure on the Government to enforce legislation clamping down on the sale of fireworks.

He said council trading standards officers were investigating claims of shopkeepers selling fireworks to children. After the meeting, Councillor Butler said: "There are likely to be 160 outlets in the borough selling fireworks before 5 November, which shows the difficulty of policing this issue.

"The Government acted on the sale of bangers and Chinese crackers before now. Hopefully we can put some pressure on one of our MPs to submit a private members bill to crackdown on fireworks."

Councillor Owen said: "This is a borough-wide problem, and fireworks seem to be being made available earlier and earlier. Something needs to be done."